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Product Support

Data Sheets

Frequently Asked Questions

Troubleshooting

When you troubleshoot issues with an IDE cable, there are some quick tests that you can complete to rule out potential problems. You can test to make sure that the following components are working correctly and are not the source of the issue:

Hard drive

Hard drive controller (for example, the motherboard)

IDE cable

To test your setup components, try the following:

Use the hard drive, hard drive controller, and IDE cable in another setup to see if the problem is with the components or the setup.

Use a different hard drive, hard drive controller, and IDE cable in your setup to see if the problem persists. Ideally, you should test a component that you know works in another setup.

IDE cables have three connectors that use the same 40-pin connector, but each connection has a specific assignment. One end plugs into the motherboard and the other two ends plug into the master drive (primary, required) and slave drive (secondary, optional). To identify the connections for your cable, refer to the following table:

Connection

Location on cable

Color (on some cables)

Master

The end of the cable and close to the slave drive.

Gray

Slave

The middle of the cable.

Black

Motherboard

The end of the cable farthest away from the slave drive.

Blue

The information in the above table applies to Cable select mode, which is a jumper pin configuration. Refer to the manual for your IDE hard drive for more information about how the jumpers should be set for the mode that you want to use.

Note: Do not "hotplug" the IDE cable. Always power down the hard drive and the hard drive controller before making any connection changes.

When you test your hard drive, hard drive controller and IDE cable, it is recommended that you do the following:

Complete your testing with only one drive attached to the cable in the master position.

Verify that the hard drive is spinning without the IDE cable attached. The power cable attached to the drive should make the drive spin.

Make sure that the cable is inserted into the drive in the correct orientation. On drives without a key or pin 19 missing, line up the red stripe on the cable with pin 1 on the hard drive.

If the hard drive is not being detected in the BIOS, make sure that the jumpers are set correctly on the hard drive.

If the hard drive is not being detected in your operating system, make sure that the drive is formatted with a partition (for example, NTFS or FAT32). If you are using a computer running a version of Windows, a drive letter must also be assigned to the hard disk drive.